Hands-On: NHL 2K3

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We strap on our skates and take to the ice with the latest from Sega and Visual Concepts.

By IGN Staff

Here in sunny New York city at the 2002 Sega Sports Summit, the publishing giant gave the world a glimpse at its upcoming winter line-up of titles: NBA2K3, NCAA Basketball 2K3, and the long-awaited NHL2K3. Today, IGN was fortunate enough to spend some time with the latest build of Sega's 2003 hockey offering -- quite a bit of time actually, as in, they had to pry the controllers from our hands right before closing down the event.

While gamers have been enjoying previous Sega Sports titles on the current line of post-Dreamcast systems, this will be the first year that hockey fans will finally get to join the fun. Sega presented the game running smoothly on all three major consoles: GameCube, PS2, and Xbox.

This is also the first year that the code has been turned over to the California-based Visual Concepts, fathers of the critically acclaimed NFL2K series. And as fans of the previous NHL2K titles will expect, this 2K3 version is already a ton of fun, even at this early 70%-complete stage of development.

The title's presentation, visuals, and gameplay mechanics are all very familiar to fans of the Sega Sports brand. It incorporates the new ESPN look and interface that you've already seen in action so beautifully in NFL2K3. Menus, options, cut-scenes and replays all have that familiar TV-style polish that perfectly fits the sport of hockey, especially considering that ESPN has been the prime authority on such event coverage in recent years. This added boost in the presentation department should have much appeal to those hardcore hockey fans that stay up late at night to catch highlight reels on Sports Center.

Now that the NHL2K series has finally been upgraded to next-generation hardware, we're also finding a truckload of new gameplay improvements and features. In his opening presentation, Sega of America President Peter Moore emphasized that these new titles would be "authentic," "realistic," and "high quality," and NHL2K3 appears to hold true to this motto. You'll find all the great Sega Sports game modes, such as Exhibition, Season, Playoffs, Franchise, and Tournament. Franchise play will give gamers the same options as this year's football title, such as taking full control of your favorite team, signing free agents, editing your lines, and leading them to the Stanley Cup. Players are rated in over 50 different attributes, such as "endurance," "leadership," "poise," "puck handling," and even "temperament." This gives each a unique set of abilities and special purpose on your line.

Taking control of the on-ice action feels quite nice, with smooth animations and well-paced action. VC has added a few new gameplay elements this year that are a first in the realm of videogame hockey. For instance, defensive players can now pin a puck handler against the boards, and then switch to a nearby defender to poke check the puck free. Checking has also been toned down a bit, and added emphasis has been placed on goalie animations and artificial intelligence to help keep the scores more tight and realistic. Overall, this latest hockey offering from Sega really seems to capture the pace and true gameplay feel of the sport, and we're quite excited to get our hands on a more complete version.

Now for the real kicker: Xbox owners will be quite happy to find that this year's version of NHL 2K3 will be the first online version of hockey to hit the market. If the thought of pulling a shorthanded one-timer on your buddy back home doesn't get your heart jumping, then truly you are an unfortunate creature. Online gamers will be able to chat using Voice Communicator, be ranked via online leader boards, and even download the latest league rosters. Here at the event, Sega wired together a pair of Xbox systems for a little local area network head-to-head Xbox Live competition, complete with voice headsets. Although this setup means that we can't really comment on NHL2K3's network performance using the Xbox Live service, we'll be able to give you a better analysis of its online gameplay in the near future.

Xbox users will also have the option of linking together multiple consoles for local stick-slapping action. It wasn't made clear if this multiplayer feature will be available in the PS2 or GameCube versions, but considering that neither will feature online gameplay, the same could very well be true of the system-link feature. Again, Sega will comment further on the game's online and linking capabilities in the near future, so stay tuned. In the meantime, know that Xbox Live users should have much to look forward to.